Is it resin?

[rpell1@msn.com]

Just discovered two rain leaks coming in under the shroud deck plates on the port side. One is inside the port cabin cabinet under the inboard, after shroud. The other is in the head and it seems to be coming from the forward shroud plate. There is a run and almost puddling of a brown gooey liquid after a heavy rain. I tightened down on the mounting bolts after forcing some 5200 under the plates. this stopped one leak and I am working on the other.

My question is: What is this stuff? I am thinking either resin or foam filler that is breaking down due to the leaks? At this point, I cannot remove the fittings to re-bed them and am temporarily sealing with 5200.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Brown colored water is what is found in rotted balsa or plywood core material

 

[BillyK]

uh oh... i have that coming from one of the corners on the roof above the nav station on my 1990 C30.. i better go find that source of intrusion before i get more rot!!

 

[Stephen K]

Just discovered two rain leaks coming in under the shroud deck plates on the port side. One is inside the port cabin cabinet under the inboard, after shroud. The other is in the head and it seems to be coming from the forward shroud plate. There is a run and almost puddling of a brown gooey liquid after a heavy rain. I tightened down on the mounting bolts after forcing some 5200 under the plates. this stopped one leak and I am working on the other.

My question is: What is this stuff? I am thinking either resin or foam filler that is breaking down due to the leaks? At this point, I cannot remove the fittings to re-bed them and am temporarily sealing with 5200.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

It sounds like you have chainplate leaks at the deck surface... and water is getting in the deck...then it drips out the bottom of the plate..as a brown gooy substance.

STOP and DO NOT use 5200 as a temporary sealant. Nothing about 5200 is temporary ...it is really a permanent adhesive.

You need to do the repair correctly! First, slacken the shroud and remove the chainplate. Examine the core... and if its wet or rotted, all the rotted wet wood needs to bee removed. After removing back to good wood, you can inject something to stabilize the wood and stop the rot (like Git-Rot). After that dries you will need to fill the open cored area with a thickened epoxy (your choice of product, the the West System in the automatic mixing tube is easy to use). After that hardens, you can re cut your hole and install the tang and chainplate...they should be sealed with a product like Butyl Tape or a sealant like Life Seal.

If you search the archives, you will find links to proper re-bedding techniques. Doing the repair correctly will "seal" your wood core from future water intrusion.

 

[Twice Around]

Stephen is right..it is a big pain, but that will fix it, correctly. I've done this job, with pictures if you are interested (see below). I re-bedded with butyl tape when I 'upgraded' my lowers with the CD kit, and re-did the main chainplates. Digging out the rotten wood as far under the deck skin as possible is the most labor intensive part. Actually, the most difficult part is drilling holes in a perfectly good fiberglass deck...knowing there is rotten core inside is only a little comforting.

If you've had water leaking down the chainplates, you need to carefully inspect your bulkheads too, by removing the 3/8" screw/bolt/nut/washers. I am surprised my chainplate didn't just pull right thru the bulkhead and out the deck...although mine leaked for years before I got the boat. The bulkhead damage is on the forward side of the bulkhead, since the chainplate is bolted to that side, but often underneath the chainplate & not visible with an 'assembled inspection'.


You can keep the rig up by easing everything a little bit and removing one shroud at a time. A halyard to the side of the boat you are working on would help stabilize the rig too.

I chose to build 'jockstraps' for both sides too (I guess my racing background leaks into the cruising boat), so the bulkheads are almost decorative now.

Here are pics of the stbd repair...All the epoxy work was done on the forward side, which is not visible once the hanging locker is reinstalled. I used Smith's penetrating epoxy as well, to stiffen up what wood was left. Maybe someday I'll get motivated to replace them, but after the chart table project (which still is not complete) I am taking a break from woodworking projects.

The port side was bad enough I had to bond in a 1/2" piece of teak (old piece of hatchboard!) & sandwich the old bulkhead in the middle. I'll see if I can dig up a few of those..this is mostly a warning to fix it properly before you have to do as much work as I had to do!

Sorry some of the pics are fuzzy.

 

[Twice Around]

Here are the deck pics. The odd shape is from using a hole saw & then cutting out the middle with a Dremel & trying to minimize the cutting out of the deck.

Somewhere I have pics of it complete..a little Interlux Brightsides 1-part I had laying around (mostly to UV protect the epoxy) cleaned it up nicely.

 

[Twice Around]

The port side epoxy repair is still visible in the head, but I'd rather not have the rig come down. This was about structural repair, not cosmetic work at the time. I may clean it up later. The 'jockstrap' bases were SS angle bolted thru the nice thick fiberglass that makes up the seat, replacing the bolts that originally (and still do) secure the bulkheads as well. Although I think the stbd one is plenty strong enough (not a creak out of the rig since the repair), I beefed up the stainless on the port side since I did not have any space restrictions like I did with the hanging locker.